Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📕

I sat up straight and focused on Francesca and the woman sitting across from her as the bright lighting from the camera shone on the two of them.

“Okay, we’re ready in three, two, one…” one of the men behind the camera shouted.

“I’m Robin Michaels, and I’m here today with Francesca Armenti, who has something very personal she’d like to share with our viewers. Francesca, do you care to tell us what that is?”

I wrung my hands together, holding my breath until Francesca began to speak.

“Yes, I do. First I want to thank your station for allowing me to use this platform for my voice to be heard. It was a voice I kept quiet for too long, and maybe in doing so, I caused some pain to others.” She swallowed hard and continued. “Forty-eight years ago, I was a seventeen-year-old girl who was in a relationship with Thomas Cavlan. We had big dreams as young people in love often do, but then he got sent off to Vietnam. Shortly after he left, I discovered I was pregnant. It was a secret I kept to myself, knowing it wouldn’t bode well with my strict Catholic upbringing. Instead, I had grandiose dreams that Tommy would return, we’d get married, raise our child together, and live happily ever after.”

“But things didn’t seem to work out that way, did they?” the reporter asked compassionately.

“No, they didn’t.” Francesca paused a moment, then continued. “A few months after Tommy left, his brother Dominick raped me.” She pulled a tissue from the box on the table and dabbed her eyes. “I know what everyone is probably thinking. Why now? Why after all these years? I’ll give all of you the answer to that question.” She looked directly into the camera. “Because Dominick Cavlan’s reckless behavior has taken so much from so many others. Yet he continues to move forward in life like it’s nothing while those he’s affected are the ones who are left to bear the burden of the outcome of his actions. Some of them carrying it around for most of their life with others ending their life because they can’t bear the guilt or shame of it. All while he goes on television and does what he’s always done best…lies. I don’t know if I would’ve had the courage to do this just a few months ago, but then someone very special entered my life. Someone I was forced to give up over forty-eight years ago. The child I had with Tommy Cavlan. The child Tommy and I could’ve raised together if it hadn’t been for his brother’s lies.”

“Is it true that you have a letter from Thomas Cavlan that he had written right before he decided to take his own life, asking you to move forward and speak out against his brother for what he’s done?” the reporter asked.

“I do.” Francesca nodded.

“Wow. That’s a real bombshell, considering how close the two brothers were.”

“Tommy had contacted me some months ago when the rape allegations from Karlyn Wells came out. I had written to him when he was in Vietnam, telling him what his brother had done to me, but his brother put a spin on it and said it was me who came on to him.”

“That wasn’t true?”

“No. He raped me, and he was trying to cover his tracks with a lie. The same way he had with Karlyn Wells and possibly others who haven’t come forward.”

“So, I know this next question may be hard for you to answer, but did Mr. Cavlan give you any indication as to why he planned on taking his life in that letter?”

“He did.” Francesca took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “He was aware I was pregnant back then. I had written him and told him. He just wasn’t aware he was the father. He had assumed his brother was.”

“So let me get this straight. Dominick Cavlan raped you while you were pregnant with his brother’s child.”

Francesca nodded and reached for another tissue, her voice wavering as she began to speak. “I had gotten pregnant the night before Tommy got shipped out. I know this because it was my one and only sexual experience at the time. I was just about into my fourth month of pregnancy. When he…” She dabbed her face with the tissue. “When he raped me,” she managed to get out.

“Did he know you were pregnant?”

“Yes. I told him, thinking that would prevent it from happening. I wasn’t showing at all, so he thought I was lying and that seemed to make him even angrier.”

“Angrier in what way?” the reporter asked.

“Is she really going to make her relive this nightmare?” I leaned over and whispered to Ken.

“Trust me, it’s only making her look more credible,” Ken whispered back. It irked me that Francesca was the one who had to make herself seem credible when she was the one who was telling the truth.

“He became violent,” Francesca spoke. “He smacked me across the face and called me horrible names. Accused me of making up a lie to try and trap his brother into marriage.” Francesca averted her gaze to me. I flashed her a caring smile, hoping it would be enough to help her carry on with the horrific account of what had happened to her.

“You never reported it to the police back then?”

“No,” Francesca whispered. “My parents wouldn’t allow me to. They said it would just draw attention to the family and the sin I committed. They sent me across the country to Massachusetts to go live with my aunt until I had the baby.”

“You had the baby and put her up for adoption.”

“I did.” Tears were now streaming down Francesca’s face faster than she could wipe them away. “It was the hardest thing I ever did, but I knew I was in no position to raise a child.”

“Wow. That’s heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine how scared you must’ve been,” the reporter added. Francesca